Baltimore Police Department

Citizen Complaints

The Baltimore Police Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility tracks and investigates both internal complaints and citizen complaints regarding officer interactions in order to better serve the people of Baltimore. Visit the Baltimore Police Department website for more information about the complaint process, including how and where to file a complaint.

Table of Contents

Complaints by Month

These are the numbers of complaints received by the Office of Professional Responsibility by month over the past year. The current month shows complaints received to date, so will not be a complete count until after the month ends.

Complaints by Allegation

The Office of Professional Responsibility receives complaints about a wide range of behaviors, and takes all allegations seriously. Complaints about abusive language, harassment, false imprisonment, false arrest, or excessive force are also taken by the Civilian Review Board of Baltimore City.

You may see the following acronyms in allegations:

BWC: Body Worn Camera

DV: Domestic Violence

VCS: Violation of Criminal Statute

Complaints by Disposition

When an investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility and/or the Civilian Review Board is complete, a disposition is assigned to the complaint. Based on the evidence considered, the investigation may reach one of the following dispositions:

Unfounded: the alleged misconduct did not occur, or did not involve the subject officer.

Sustained: the alleged misconduct did occur.

Exonerated: the alleged conduct did occur but did not violate Baltimore Police Department policies, procedures, or training.

Not Sustained: the investigation was unable to determine whether the alleged misconduct occurred.

Complaints By Assignment

Baltimore Police Department tracks complaints based on where officers are assigned within its nine patrol districts, as well as several other assignments that have specific functions related to investigations, enforcement, and training.

Officer Demographics

Baltimore City is home to more than 621,000 people and is served by the nation’s 8th largest police department. Baltimore Police Department has almost 2,600 sworn officers.

Complaints by Officer

To hold officers accountable to the community, BPD and the Civilian Review Board of Baltimore City track the number and type of complaints received for each officer. Baltimore Police Department has almost 2,600 sworn officers. More than 2,000 officers, around 80%, have not had a complaint filed against them in the past year.